Waters ACQUITY QDa Detector Blends Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry
Waters Corporation has launched a new mass detector that can be integrated with the company’s chromatographic systems. The Waters ACQUITY QDa Detector is first of its kind to include mass spectral data to chromatographic separation. The ACQUITY QDa Detector is specifically designed to meet the requirements of analytical scientists who look for mass spectral data without having to deal with the complexities of operating mass spectrometer for everyday operations.
The new ACQUITY QDa Detector is a technological marvel which had a gestation period of about 2 decades since its visualization to the delivery of a fully functional product. The device incorporates 37 new patented/patent pending technologies in it to provide solutions to the complexity, cost and size issues that hindered the adoption of mass spectrometer for everyday usage. The ACQUITY QDa Detector automates sample analysis, eliminates the need for sample specific adjustments and makes it possible to obtain spectral data by just flipping a switch. Even though the ACQUITY QDa Detector has dimensions close to that of a conventional photodiode array detector, it is powerful enough to generate high quality spectral data close to that of a single quadrupole mass spectrometer.
This detector can complement the existing optical detectors to confirm the identity of compounds by using mass spectral information. It can also quantify compounds that do not exhibit UV response and those found in minute quantities that optical detection and quantification will be impossible. It also eliminates the need for running multiple additional assays or using alternative techniques to confirm the identity of sample compounds.
The ACQUITY QDa Detector can be easily integrated with the company’s ACQUITY UltraPerformance LC (UPLC), ACQUITY UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography (UPC2), Alliance HPLC, Waters supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and LC based purification systems. The ACQUITY QDa Detector can be used on separation systems using Empower 2 & 3 Chromatography Data System (CDS) software and MassLynx 4.1 Mass Spectrometry software. The new QDa Detector will prove to be a game changer in pharmaceutical discovery and development, method development, sample profiling, purification and other applications.
Waters ACQUITY QDa Detector comes with a price tag of about $40,000.
Source: Waters Corp.